Run for the Hills 30k Trail Run Race Review and Results

Little late on this one, but better late than blah, blah...

Just looking for results? Here you go.

So anyhoo...last week was the Run for the Hills trail run, usually just an 8k in the Bald Hill area, but a new 30k was added this year.



As I've mentioned before, I signed up for the 30k way back when before I realized I was going to be well into training for my fall marathon, and in fact, in my fourth week of the Hansons plan. My scheduled workout for the Sunday of the Run for the Hills was to be an easy 8 miles. Instead, I was staring at 18.5 miles with about 3000 feet of climbing. Ouch.



So the whole plan for this one was to go slow and not get injured. I still have nightmares of rolling my ankle at last year's Condor Trail Run, which scuttled my training for the California International Marathon. Plus, I didn't want to go full out and be so sore and tired that I'd have to skip my scheduled marathon workouts. So, as you can see here, I started conservatively...that's me, fifth from the very back as we head out from the start line.



The first hill we tackled was Bald Hill, which was fine as I run it all the time, but then we quickly moved on toward Fitton Green, which I don't run all the time, and it was steep going.

I moved past a few people and settled into my pace. It was an interesting course as there were a good number of out and back spokes. So you ended up seeing the same people over and over and could gauge if you were gaining or losing ground. I didn't much care, but for someone up front, I could see that it would be a good course to know exactly where you're at relative to the other runners.

There are a few "ankle-breaker" sections that aren't really "trail." They're more "beaten down weeds over mole hills." You've got to slow down a bit on those.



We finally made it way out on the trail through Fitton Green where it runs along Marys River. Although I walked plenty on the steeper uphills, I never felt too bad. My pace looked OK as long as I wasn't heading up the really steep stuff.



The race director had told us at the beginning of the run that they had decided against placing a water stop at the top of Bald Hill, which turned out to be a tough decision, for me, in retrospect. As we neared the end of the race, maybe a mile and a half to go, we came up the back side of Bald Hill and hit the summit. There was a race marker sign that read "straight." Unfortunately, it was placed about 15 feet in front of a "Y" on the trail. There was no "straight," there was only left or right. I figured maybe they meant to stay on the main, bigger, trail. Another guy at the top agreed with me and we started down the horse trail. About halfway down, I realized we had taken the wrong trail. That's a steep downhill - there was no way I was turning around and going back up. I knew where it came out, down on the bike path, and I knew we'd have to run a little extra to get back on track, but it seemed like the better option. As I came to the bottom of the trail, I came up on another runner who had taken the wrong trail as well. After the obligatory "wrong trail?" and "yep, wrong trail," we headed back on the bike path toward the Fairgrounds parking lot.



I definitely lost a couple places - I saw some people had already finished that were behind me pretty much the whole race - but what are you going to do?

Amazingly enough, even though I was pretty sore and tired, I managed through my Hansons workouts the entire week after the race. Didn't miss a one.

The shirt is clean and sharp-looking. Sort of a different feel for a tech shirt - definitely has more of a cotton feel. I'm not a huge fan of white race shirts, but it's pretty nice all the same.



Good race. With luck, I won't have to worry about marathon training next year and can really race it.

Thanks to Jim MacDonald for the photos.

Evaluating Running Goals After An Injury

Yes, the "dreaded" injury. In my case, this ankle right here:

If you recall, I rolled my ankle pretty good during the Condor 25k Trail Run. After I rolled the ankle, I believe I made a few mistakes. First, I ran the rest of the race after I hurt my ankle - about 13 miles on a bad ankle. Dumb, but I can be stubborn like that, I admit. I've never had an actual DNF in a race. I didn't want to start then. Then I took six days off - a good decision. Then I thought I could go ahead and run because it didn't feel really bad. Mistake number two. I definitely didn't do the healing any favors with that run. Now I'm on a seven-day stretch without running. It's feeling a bit better, although not great. Maybe 75-80%.

So the goals...

First, I'm signed up for the Runaway Pumpkin Half this Saturday, the 27th. Way back, when I signed up for the race, I figured it would be a nice little test as I move toward the CIM in December. About six weeks away from my goal marathon, so I could run the Half fast and try to PR, with plenty of time after to recover.

Now, I'm not even sure if I'm going to run the Pumpkin Half at all. If I do, the PR is out the window.

And of course, now I'm on my third week of basically no running. In the middle of my training program for my Boston Qualifier, the CIM. Sigh...I knew qualifying for Boston would be tough, I just didn't realize I'd have so many false starts.

So I'm having a tough time with my mental outlook right now. I'm trying very hard to take the long overview:

-Get the foot healthy enough to run on again,
-If possible, use the Runaway Pumpkin Half as an easy training run,
-Get back into the training schedule, but ease off a bit. Boston is not an option at this point, and I need to regain my running fitness more than my top-end speed, after being out for so long.
-Try to PR at the California International Marathon. A new goal, sort of, but still something to drive toward and focus on. And frankly, since I had such a horrible race at my last full, a new PR is still very much possible.

And since it's important to quit focusing on the negative ("damn foot, why won't you get better faster?"), and instead focus on the future ("so what spring marathon should I schedule?"), I went out and purchased the new Hanson's Marathon Method book. What's more inspiring than a new training plan to follow?!?

So, let's review:

-Wait! Don't rush it. Let the injury heal and get back into the training as soon as possible.
-Reset the goals. Make them concrete, objective, and most importantly, still difficult yet achievable.
-Find some inspiration to get you excited all over again. A new book, a new pair of shoes, sign up for a race that's six months away. Anything to solidly plant that new goal and improve the mental and emotional outlook.

And don't think about the foot. Quit thinking about the foot.

Condor 25k Trail Race Review and Results

Sorry, I'm a little late on this, but I've had a tough couple days since the race...as I'll explain.

So the Condor 25k. The inaugural running of the Condor 25k, in fact. A little trail race in McDonald Forest outside of Corvallis, in memory of longtime Corvallis trail runner Dave Bateham.

I was supposed to do a 16 mile run for my marathon training over the weekend anyway, so I figured, why not sign up for a 15.5 miler on the trails? So I did.

In retrospect...

Anyhoo, I had to transport myself over to McDonald Forest, since Payton had a Cross Country race at noon over in Albany...and he took the whole support crew with him! I got there plenty early, sat around for a bit, then went outside to see that the Honey Bucket line was huge.

So I wandered off into the forest for a little private time. By time I had taken care of business and got back to the start, it was only about 4 minutes to race time. I punched the start button on the old Garmin watch and hoped for the best.

Nope.

They started a little early and I was still acquiring satellites. What are you going to do? I took off, hoping my watch would click in, even though it never does once you start running...and are going through a dense forest.

Damn.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I was getting over a cold. I had taken some cold meds, but my nose was running like a faucet.

So the first couple miles were up, up, and up. I felt pretty good though. We started to head down at about two miles. I was basically doing three things: running, wiping my nose and checking to see if my watch had hooked on.

That's when I rolled my ankle.

Of course I did. I was barely even looking where I was going. I was staring at my watch and my Kleenex instead. Stupid. It was one of those where your foot turns way over and you limp for about five or ten strides and think, "yeah, I can keep running," and then you think, "yeah, this is really going to hurt later."

And it does.

But I digress. The important part of the story here is that I kept running. And I turned my watch off, because it just wasn't happening...and I didn't want to turn the other ankle.

So I've got no running stats. No pace. No elevation. No nothin'.

Here's what the course looked like, according to the race directors, one of the last honest professions...

There were a lot of hills, I can attest to that. Strangely enough, with my ankle hurting, the uphills were actually easiest on my foot. The downhills and right turns were murder. I minced down a number of downhills that I should have been flying down. Ah well...

I got through about ten miles feeling pretty good. Then I hit a bit of a wall. I had already been running by myself for a long, long time. No one in front and no one passing me. But then, just as I felt I was running out of gas, I started passing people. Obviously, some other folks were hitting the wall as well. I went by six or seven people in the last few miles, which is always fun. Then at the 15.4 mark, I got caught! I was just mailing it in at that point, waiting for the finish line. A women came up on me and said, "I've been chasing after that hat for five miles." Well, hell...I guess that's what I get for wearing my OSU hat. She went by and I was happy to let her finish in front - she beat me by one second. Nice job, Erika.

Here are the results if you're interested.

I finished in 2:30:37. Good enough for me. Unfortunately, now I have this ankle that's twice the size of my other ankle. Not good. Maybe I should have just run my regular old long training run on the bike paths. Boring...but safe.

Oh, and the delay on the review? Not only have I been fighting the ankle...I had a root canal today too! Woe is me.

Here's the shirt. It's awesome.

Check out that condor. I love the condor! And the back is awesome as well.

A great tribute shirt for Dave Bateham. And a pretty good race...hopefully, I'll be healed up for the 2nd annual race!

Photos by Clem LaCava right here.

New RaceCenter NW Article Hits the Stands - Cross Country and Cyclocross

It's true, I've got another faboo new article out in the latest issue of RaceCenter NW - at a Jamba Juice near you!

Or if you're lazy as dirt, just head over to the RaceCenter Digital Edition and you'll be able to keep your ass firmly planted in your couch. You're welcome.

So let's see if there's anything worth looking at, besides the article from the R's Writing Factory of course:

-Well, the cover is cool. I'm excited about finally getting back out there for a trail race in a couple weeks, at the Condor 25k, and this cover picture gets me thinking about running on that lovely, soft dirt.

-After a bunch of pretty, full-page ads, we get Brook Gardner's Editorial on page 12. Brook makes some good points about the minimalist movement and not following fads and getting a shoe that actually works for you. Or as I've said, more succinctly, many times, "get a real pair of shoes, for God's sake - those Five Fingers will just end up at the bottom of your closet."

-Some Race Briefs: Seattle Marathon (which I won't run until they get a new RD), Nike Cross Nationals coming to Portland, Stumptown XC coming up (I hope to make it to a race), tons o' Jingle Bell Runs, Jeff Browning showing them who's boss at the Wasatch 100, and Cyclocross news. All good stuff, all informative.

-An informative article on Fueling for Late-Day Energy, for those pesky evening races.

-My homeboy Max King talking about getting your Mental Schwerve on. (I know this is a family blog and all, but does anyone else read Max King and have your brain instantly translate it as "Max F*cking King"? Mine does. I mean, the guy is just incredible.)

-Chris Bagg, tri dude extraordinaire, talks about the bennies of Cyclocross.

-USATF Oregon Stuff.

-Jeff Browning talks about the race from the cover photo: the TransRockies Run.

-Some amazing writer with the amazing name of Scott Lommers writes an article about the amazing similarities between Cross Country Running and Cyclocross. And he titles the article "Criss Cross." Yes, I thought of that. Wow. Amazing.

-JD Downing talks about snow and sports and stuff. Not interested, thanks. Too cold.

-Somebody writes an article about Scott Sports. I assume it was Brook Gardner, but for some reason he didn't put a byline on it.

-Then a Shoe Guide. And hey! There's the Nike Pegasus 29. What do you know, I just reviewed that bad boy myself!

-Then the Event Calendar and we're done.

All in all, not a bad issue. Good stuff. Pick one up so you can be one of those smart people with all kinds of helpful fricking advice.

Inaugural Condor Run 25k

A brand new trail run in Corvallis, in memory of Corvallis ultrarunner Dave "Condor" Bateham, the Condor 25k will hold its inaugural edition on October 6th.

All the registration info is here and here.

Am I signed up? You know I am. I needed to do a long training run that day anyway. What better way than to do it running up and down the hills of Corvallis?

And when I saw that humbly awesome Condor 25k art up above, I knew I simply had to own that race shirt.

It's about 50% filled. Hurry up and sign up today and I'll see you out on the trails!